The present invention relates to the field of electrical switches and, more specifically, to an improvement in a dual lighted rocker switch.
Conventional dual lighted rocker switches are found most commonly in automotive applications, where they may be used to control headlamps or fog lamps for example, although their uses are not limited to these applications. Rocker switches of this kind are compact and difficult to assemble, so difficult in fact, that the precise movements required for a person to assemble a rocker switch have been likened to those of a watchmaker.
The assembly usually follows a pattern of first installing the light bulbs in a housing, which involves the tedious task of first tying the ground of one light bulb to the other by manually twisting the leads together, then feeding the light bulb leads into minute openings and positioning them. The second step may involve riveting leads from external connections to a hollow removable base with contacts on its sides. Once these leads are attached to the base, a horizontally movable contact is placed on top of the base for opening and closing the contacts of the switch. The final step involves spreading the leads from the light bulbs toward the sides of the housing, and inserting the removable base in such a way that allows the leads to fit tightly between the contacts and the housing wall, thus providing an electrical contact.
In view of these complexities and difficulties it is therefore an objective of the present invention to greatly reduce the difficulty of assembly of a dual lighted rocker switch. Another objective of this invention is to reduce the cost of these switches. A still further objective of the present invention is to provide a more durable rocker switch.